The Hill News

The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee does not want his colleagues getting involved in the National Football League's impending standoff between players and team owners.

Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas) warned against congressional intervention as a group of players representing their union took to Capitol Hill to meet with lawmakers about the dispute over the league's collective bargaining agreement, which could result in a lockout.

{mosads}"That is a business dispute," Smith said, according to the USA Today. "The owners and players are both literally and figuratively big boys and do not need Congress to referee every dispute for them."

Both players and ow! ners have brought their case to members of Congress in what they say is an effort to spread awareness of the situation.

The NFL's collective bargaining agreement expires on March 3, and neither side has made serious progress in negotiations. The season will officially come to a close with the Super Bowl on Feb. 6.

While both sides have spent money lobbying members of Congress in the past, the league's expenditures have outstripped the players union $1.1 million to $350,000 in the past year, according to Politico.

The AFL-CIO, the nation's largest labor coalition, has become involved, writing league owners t o lay out the consequences of a lockout. The group says a lockout could cost each NFL city at least $140 million. 

But Jeff Miller, the league's top lobbyist, agrees with Smith that Congress should stay out of the negotiations.

"We don't see the value of asking Congress to intervene in negotiations," he told the USA Today.